Grocery shopping and meals...

[ヤス三ン]

Recently doing my supermarket shopping has become more of a chore for me, really draining since I hardly know what I want to buy and recently have come away having not bought much. The problem is that I don't know what I will fancy to eat (except for some kind of stir fry and or curry udon), I am not good at planning my meals (not good at planning in general unless it is a holiday, then I start planning really far in advance), despite even having a "one pot vegan" cook book that I was gifted. I like to make low effort meals for the majority of the week and I will actually eat most vegetables as long as they are prepared in a flavourful way, I don't eat meat substitutes very often.
One time recently, I thought I would make lasagna (vegan) then I could eat left overs the next day, but the supermarket didn't have the mozzarella style "cheese" that they always have, instead they had extra stock of another vegan cheese, so I was frustrated and couldn't make lasagna. I still haven't figured out where tesco keep their tinned beans (plain) and wanted mad trying to find them, I found baked beans and tinned veg, but no plain tinned beans.
Anyway, before I was a little bit better at supermarket shopping and knowing what meals to prepare.
I don't have the money to buy meal kits /subscription boxes.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I am not looking forward to shopping tomorrow.

 

[Forest Cat]

Two things that I found helpful, the internet is full of dinner ideas. Lots and lots of food and dinner ideas, so many food blogs and recipes and stuff. And when I make warm dinner, I make a lot of it so I have left overs in the fridge I can heat up later. I used to make one meal, that's not smart.

 

[Raggamuffin]

I have to go for the easiest things to eat. Pitta/houmous, baked beans on toast, microwave meals etc. I know - a dietary disaster and probably knocking off several years off my life. Cash me out early though, I'm fine with that.

Culinary skills are non-existant, and whilst I appreciate it's a creative outlet and artform of it's own - I never felt the prep, cooking and cleaning time required ever justified how much time was wasted.

Also, as ever - eat more Milkybars.

Ed

 

[Gerontius]

Are you in the UK? I saw a mention of Tesco.

 

[VictorR]

I have certain staples I like that I try to stock up on whenever they are on sale - that way I always have them on hand - so if I've been standing in the kitchen for a while and still haven't figured out what I want, I can default to one of them.

 

[ヤス三ン]

Two things that I found helpful, the internet is full of dinner ideas. Lots and lots of food and dinner ideas, so many food blogs and recipes and stuff. And when I make warm dinner, I make a lot of it so I have left overs in the fridge I can heat up later. I used to make one meal, that's not smart.

I do look up recipes online but that is usually when I already have an idea of what I want to

Are you in the UK? I saw a mention of Tesco.

Yes, I am in the UK

 

[Alexej]

Yes, I am in the UK

Hi and Welcome to the Forums

Your handle is interesting - its the first time I have seen that script used in this way. NIce one

 

[ヤス三ン]

Hi and Welcome to the Forums

Your handle is interesting - its the first time I have seen that script used in this way. NIce one

My special interest is japan and learning Japanese so I thought that I could use the Japanese version of my name.

 

[Kalinychta]

Oh man, you should do what I do: know exactly what you want to buy beforehand and then rip through the store like an unrelenting tornado, mercilessly collecting everything on your list. Panic, rage, and tear at your hair and face only when the store doesn’t have something on your list. When that happens you’ll either have to go without or improvise.

 

[Forest Cat]

Oh man, you should do what I do: know exactly what you want to buy beforehand and then rip through the store like an unrelenting tornado, mercilessly collecting everything on your list. Panic, rage, and tear at your hair and face only when the store doesn’t have something on your list. When that happens you’ll either have to go without or improvise.

I do that too, it works great until you hit an empty shelf, sold out. That's like throwing gravel into a gearbox, suddenly everything stops and for a moment I don't know what to do.

 

[Kalinychta]

I do that too, it works great until you hit an empty shelf, sold out. That's like throwing gravel into a gearbox, suddenly everything stops and for a moment I don't know what to do.

Same. At that point I either lapse into a state of catatonic schizophrenia…or go to another store.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I mostly buy the essential groceries once a month when I get my food stamps and then buy smaller things as needed. It works out pretty well as I make a list and write down decent sized meal ideas that I can eat for a few days. This system has worked for me pretty well for the past ten years.